Industry stadium `that close'

Sitting in the empty Industry City Council chambers, Majestic Realty Co. Vice President John Semcken on Thursday summed up how far the hope of professional football returning to the Los Angeles area has come in nearly two years.

"We're that close to having a football team here," he said, leaving an inch of caution between his index finger and thumb.

Industry's City Council unanimously approved a multimillion-dollar settlement Thursday morning with neighboring Walnut over billionaire developer Ed Roski Jr.'s proposed NFL stadium. That ended what officials said was the biggest legal challenge to the project.

"It's the largest hurdle to date," Semcken said. "Today is huge."

This is the closest a developer has come to securing an NFL stadium for the Southland in 15 years, since the Rams and Raiders both left after the 1994 season.

But one remaining obstacle gives officials pause. Roski's Majestic Realty and Industry have yet to reach an agreement with eight Walnut residents who filed a separate lawsuit against the project on the same grounds as Walnut - traffic and noise.

Talks mediated by former state Attorney General John Van de Kamp broke down Wednesday. Majestic Realty, Industry and the residents' group - called Citizens for Community Preservation Inc. - couldn't agree on terms.

But the Legislature could approve an environmental exemption that would allow the stadium project to continue despite the legal challenge.

In recent weeks, Roski lobbied hard for an exemption to the California Environmental Quality Act, the environmental law that governs the development. He pitched the stadium as a way to create thousands of high-paying, union jobs in a recession.

The Assembly has overwhelmingly approved the environmental exemption. But state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg postponed a Senate vote Sept. 11 on the exemption authored by Assemblyman Isadore Hall III, D-Compton. Steinberg told Industry, Walnut and the residents to meet one last time to try to resolve their differences. He vowed to reconsider the bill if negotiations failed.

If there is no resolution to the residents' lawsuit, there is a possibility the "legislative fix" could be used as early as mid-October when the Legislature reconvenes, said Alicia Trost, a spokeswoman in Steinberg's office.

The first round of settlement talks broke off in May when Majestic Realty accused Walnut of requesting nearly $300 million in items unrelated to the stadium as well as a $500 million stadium roof.

Hall, who was pleased with Walnut's settlement, said Thursday he hopes the citizens' group also reaches an agreement.

"I'm very optimistic that there is going to be some resolve," Hall said. "But we obviously still hold a trump card."

In exchange for Walnut dropping its lawsuit, Industry agreed to pay $9 million for traffic control, provide an annual cash payment between $350,000 and $500,000, and gave assurances that noise will be controlled, according to the settlement.

The settlement with Walnut also included items Majestic Realty would "voluntarily" incorporate into the project. The move is a "good-faith" act to address some of the citizens' requests, Semcken said.

Majestic Realty offered to:

work to push traffic onto the freeways instead of side streets;

ensure no sporting or entertainment events will be held after midnight;

"Those are things that are already there," said Brigid Bjerke, a member of the citizens' group. "They haven't given us anything."

The citizens' group wants a stadium roof to cut down on noise and dedicated freeway on- and off-ramps to the site, Bjerke said.

The group also requested that Majestic Realty reimburse Walnut for a likely increase in water prices because of the stadium's water use and fund two additional deputies at the sheriff's Walnut/Diamond Bar Station, she said.

Semcken said a roof would cost about $760 million.

"They were throwing in the pot things that were totally irrelevant," Hall said. "They just didn't want to the see the project move forward - period."

An NFL spokesman said the league would continue to follow progress with the stadium project.